Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau

John Plamenatz Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski

Put into context for readers today by new editorial notes and a comprehensive introduction

Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau

John Plamenatz Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski

Description

This volume presents lucid and insightful lectures on three great figures from the history of political thought, by John Plamenatz (1912-1975), a leading political philosopher of his time. He explores a range of themes in the political thought of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau, at substantially greater length and depth than in his famous work of 1961, Man and Society. The lectures exemplify Plamenatz's view that repeated engagement with the texts of canonical thinkers can substantially enrich and expand our capacity for political reflection. Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski, the volume includes annotations to supply Plamenatz's sources and to refer readers to developments in their interpretation. A substantial introduction by Philp sets some of Plamenatz's concerns in the light of trends in recent scholarship, and illuminates the relevance of his work to the contemporary study of political thought.

Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau

John Plamenatz Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski

Table of Contents

Introduction, Mark PhilpMachiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau: Introductory LecturePart One: Machiavelli 1. The Morally Neutral Political Scientist2. Virtue and the Double Standard3. Republics and Freedom4. Machiavelli: an Egalitarian?5. The Leader, the Legislator, the Prince, and the PatriotPart Two: Hobbes 6. A General Assessment of his Political Philosophy7. Obligation, Law, and Covenant I8. Obligation, Law, and Covenant II9. Sovereign Authority and the Right Of Resistance (I)10. Sovereign Authority and the Right Of Resistance (II)Part Three: Rousseau 11. Rousseau's Place in the History of Political Thought12. Rousseau's Conception of Freedom13. Inequality: Its Origins and Effects14. Man's Natural Goodness and his Corruption by Society15. Reason, Freedom, and Justice16. The Sovereign People, the Law, and the Citizen17. Community and the CitizenIndex

Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau

John Plamenatz Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski

Author Information

John Plamenatz (1912-1975) was a Montenegrin political philosopher, who succeeded Isaiah Berlin as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford. The best-known of his many books on the political thought is Man and Society: A Critical Examination of Some Important Social and Political Theories from Machiavelli to Marx (1963).

Mark Philp is Fellow and Tutor in Politics of Oriel College, and has been a Lecturer in Politics at Oxford University since 1983. From 2000-2005 he was Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University. He is the author of Political Conduct (Harvard University Press, 2007) and Thomas Paine (OUP, 2007).

Fellow and Tutor in Politics is an emeritus fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford University. He has worked widely across the history of political thought and contemporary political theory.

Contributors:

Mark Philp

Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau

John Plamenatz Edited by Mark Philp and Zbigniew Pelczynski

Reviews and Awards

"The real value of the present work is in the editors' meticulous compilation of footnotes charting related scholarship since 1975. The publication of these essays provides a chronicle of the continuing study of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Rousseau, especially historically oriented research of the kind issuing from the Cambridge school around Skinner, Tully, et al. Thus, what might have been merely an artifact of the dead past has been given new life..."